Friday, April 14, 2006

Also, this week's issue of The Pitch has a little blurb in the Night & Day section for Tuesday night! I gave 'em a photo too.

Here's the text:Rocking On, SunshineBy Rebecca Braverman

Music critics may use older bands Joy Division, Gang of Four, Echo & the Bunnymen to describe newer ones (particularly those that rip off the music of the early 80s), but what good does it do for listeners who have never heard the originals? Forever Young had a life before Youth Group and The O.C. but does anyone remember Alphaville?

Sunshine does. The host of Retro Red-Eye Express on KKFI 90.1 spins a mix of bands such as Devo and Bauhaus on Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. while blending in new tunes from up-and-comers like the Arctic Monkeys and We Are Scientists. Tonight she moves the music to the Record Bar (1020 Westport Road, 816-753-5207), where shell take the decks around 10 p.m. Old-school new-wave types: Sunshine encourages you to bust out your vintage gear. Tue., April 18, 10 p.m. Record Bar, 1020 Westport Rd. , Kansas City Reference (link to the blurb online w/ photo)

First of all, many thanks to all who contributed during Retro Red-Eye Express last week and all throughout the week during our other programs. R2E2 managed to raise a respectable $220 last week. Your contributions help KKFI's independent voice continue to be heard! Let's try to up the ante tonight, shall we? I'm not entirely sure that my playlist for last week is complete, but I was kind of preoccupied, so I hope you will forgive me. Whatever I have will be posted a little bit later.

In Music News (Some of which is stolen borrowed from RememberTheEighties.com.): Two members of Editors did an acoustic session during the "Rolling Stone Original" show during SXSW festival in Austin, TX recently. Here's a link to the over 15 minute peformance. It's in a format that only RealPlayer will read, so you will need to open RealPlayer and copy/paste the link address into the "Open Location" blank. It's definitely worth a listen. I think it's quite lovely.

Thomas Dolby is performing 20 dates in the US starting next week and going through May. Apparently he has a new album in the works as well and is warming himself up for something bigger. What has he been doing all this time? Apparently he founded a company called Beatnik that specializes in cell-phone ringtone software.

Psychedelic Furs and Love Spit Love frontman Richard Butler's first solo album is due out on April 18th (in the US), and he plays the last night of his US promotion tour tonight in Solana Beach, CA. (I can't tell you how much I wished he'd have visited us here in KC, but perhaps there's hope he'll add us to the upcoming Psych Furs tour rumored to take place this Summer.)

For those who haven't heard yet (I'm sure there's someone who hasn't yet), Bauhaus are playing US tour dates in support of Nine Inch Nails.

Duran Duran has been working on a new album and the latest I've heard is that they hope the first single will see a pre-Summer 2006 release. (One can only hope. Those guys are notorious perfectionists.)

Erasure are set to do an acoustic tour of the US and Europe, and have a new album due out on April 18th called Union St. It's comprised of reworkings of tracks from their back-catalogue, and they've released a new single called "Boy."

When In Rome, best known for their hit single "The Promise" (revisited recently on the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack) have scheduled some US tour dates. Most notably is a gig on May 5th in Chicago, IL. Further info is forthcoming and should be available on their official myspace page.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

It's time for KKFI's Spring 2006 on-air fund drive! Please pledge your support for Kansas City's only listener supported, independent community radio station! Our fund drive runs for only 9 days, starting on Friday March 31st (yesterday) through Saturday April 8th.

There are a couple of different ways you can donate to KKFI. 1.) Local Phone: If you're local, call (816) 931-3122 during your favorite shows2.) Toll-Free Phone: If you're from outside the Greater Kansas City area, you may call our special Toll-Free number (866) 745-63363) Website: you may donate via the web --- go to http://www.kkfi.org and submit your donation online.

Tune in tonight to Retro Red-eye Express for your weekly fix of New Wave/Alternative/Industrial/Punk, and help keep KKFI on the air!

Get ready to dance to your favorite tunes and mine on Tuesday, April 18th, because Retro Red-Eye Express will be spinning live at The Record Bar (after Rex Hobart) from around 10pm - 1:30am. If you're 21 or over, dust off your New Romantic/Dark Wave gear and come on down!